William Joseph Shayer Biography | Oil Paintings

William Joseph Shayer, Senior was a self-taught artist, first painting decorations on chairs, then painting carriages, and finally doing the heraldic painting. Finally, he began painting in oil on canvas and became skilled in time at depicting forest scenes, people, and animals in front of country inns and farmhouses.

William Joseph Shayer, Sr. once in a while worked together with other artists, especially with Edward Charles Williams, where Williams would paint the landscape and Shayer would add in people and animals. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1820.

Shayer lived a long life, was married twice, and had ten children. His eldest son, William Joseph Shayer, Jr. painted in a style very similar to his father. Their paintings are easily confused, which is made all the more difficult by the fact that they collaborated on several paintings. Three of Shayer senior's younger sons, Edward Dasherwood Shayer, Henry Thring Shayer, and Charles Walker Shayer, all became painters, and all assisted him at times in his studio.

William Joseph Shayer senior was a competent landscape artist, but he is best known as a figure painter. His work is reminiscent in a few regards of the depictions of George Morland, another very popular figure painter. Shayer's work though has a depth and brightness to it missing from the paintings of many of his contemporaries, due to his application of glaze.

Art Movement: Victorian Classicism.
Artist Biography compiled by Albert L. Mansour at The World's Artist, with text adapted from Wikipedia.